Two arrested in drug investigation

 A registered sex offender was arrested Thursday night for allegedy selling methamphetamine to an informant working with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department. 

Travis Sickels, 35, was arrested after a search warrant was executed by sheriff’s deputies at 210 E. Market St. in Red Oak.

The sheriff’s office conducted a month-long investigation in which a “cooperating individual” bought methamphetamine from Sickels on four separate occasions, totaling 2.72 grams. 

Sickels was charged with five felonies, one aggravated misdemeanor and one simple misdemeanor for delivery of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. 

Ryan McDougall, 33, was also arrested at the home. Deputies arrested McDougall for two misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. 

 While McDougall posted a $1,000 cash bond, Sickels remains in custody at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on a $50,000 bond. 

According to online court records, Sickels was last arrested in 2014 for failure to register as a sex offender after a 2003 conviction of indecent contact with a child. When arrested last year, he was described as one of “Iowa’s most wanted sex offenders.” He had failed multiple times to comply with the sex offender registry.  

In November 1999, he was charged with his first felony for intent to manufacture methamphetamine and the use of persons under 18 for drug trade, for which he received a five-year sentence. The sentence was suspended and Sickels was placed on probation.

In September 2003, Sickels was sentenced to one year in prison for sexual abuse in the third degree. The sentence was suspended and he was again placed on probation, which he violated two months later. 

He was rearrested for probation violation and ordered to serve his one-year sentence beginning March 4, 2004. On the same day he began his sentence, Sickels was charged with a felony count for the introduction and possession of contraband into a correctional facility. 

In 2005, he was found in possession of precursors to manufacture drugs, for which he was convicted of three felony counts. 

Sickels also was subsequently charged with the simple misdemeanor of possession of drug paraphernalia in 2007, 2010 and 2012. 

A preliminary hearing is currently set for March 16 for Sickels and McDougall must appear in court March 12.